Harmonization of European models of border police training

Abstract

Establishing the European border police model, adopting the European principles for the control and protection of the state border, harmonizing the regulations with those that exist in the EU become an imperative for all those who want to join the EU. At the same time this is preferable if we take into account that the cooperation among different national police organization would be easier and more effective if it is based on the same or very similar structural, operational and training/education criteria. But if the system of common attitudes and beliefs already exists (represented in the European police culture), this process will go much easier and faster. In addition, the existence of the common cultural bases is necessary as far the legislation is concerned since the cultural differences can lead to different ways the law is enforced. In order to reach the European police culture, the border police officers from various countries should be given an opportunity to exchange their knowledge and experience, to learn one from another and one with another. One of the ways to achieve that is the joint training. The institutionalized joint training is a good starting point as far as the different training systems’ harmonization is concerned, but the essential requirements are to create a common curriculum and establish common training standards. Namely, the harmonization of different training systems means that we need to determine common core of tasks, skills and issues that need to be addressed by basic and specialized border police training. Only this can make police training programs compatible. In order to achieve this, we should answer the following question: What kind of knowledge and skills (competencies) should a graduate acquire from the training program? Our ultimate goal should be that every border police officer, trained at any national training centre in Europe, is able to perform his duties efficiently anywhere along the European borders. In other words, if we talk about police training, we should seek to establish common training standards. Training standards should be defined using benchmarks of best practices elsewhere. Furthermore, the defining of common training standards is closely connected to the development of the core curriculum for all border police officers in Europe. The establishing of common training standards and the development of a core curriculum are a necessary prerequisite for the international border police cooperation. Without such a common denominator, it would be hard to remove obstacles disturbing the successful police cooperation process. The fact is that at this moment we are still far from the so-called European border police training model, although the necessity for that is explicitly stated in many documents and international initiatives. What is missing is more knowledge, ideas and sources of integration. Therefore, the necessity for the European border police academy is explicitly stressed in this paper the institution which will unite all efforts regarding the harmonization of the European models for the border police training, the organization which will induce a great number of the European countries to join the common project - creating the border police training system for the 21st century.

Uspostavljanje evropskog modela granične policije, usvajanje evropskih principa kontrole i zaštite državne granice i harmonizacija propisa s onima koji postoje u Evropskoj uniji postaju imperativ za sve one koji teže priključenju Evropskoj uniji. To je i poželjno ako se ima u vidu da će saradnja iz- među policijskih organizacija različitih država biti mnogo lakša i efektivnija ako su one zasnovane na istim ili sličnim organizacionim strukturama, procedurama postupanja i standardima policijske obuke i obrazovanja. Polazeći od toga, predmet ovog rada jeste približavanje (harmonizacija) različitih modela obuke pripadnika graničnih policija. U radu se polazi od toga da izgrađen sistem zajedničkih kulturoloških osnova oličen u evropskoj policijskoj kulturi čini proces harmonizacije (približavanja) različitih modela obuke pripadnika graničnih policija lakšim i bržim. U vezi s tim, u radu se ukazuje na značaj zajedničke obuke za izgradnju evropske policijske kulture i sprovođenje procesa harmonizacije. Kako približavanje (harmonizacija) različitih sistema obuke podrazumeva da treba da odredimo koji su suštinski zadaci, znanja i veštine koji treba da budu uzeti u obzir prilikom koncipiranja osnovne i specijalističke obuke pripadnika granične policije, u radu se ukazuje i na značaj uspostavljanja zajedničkih standarda obuke i izrade zajedničkog kurikuluma. Činjenica je da smo u ovom trenutku još daleko od tzv. evropskog modela obuke granične policije, iako je takva neophodnost izričito navedena u mnogobrojnim dokumentima i međunarodnim inicijativama. Ono što nam nedostaje jeste veći stepen inte- gracije resursa, znanja i ideja. Zbog toga se u ovom radu ističe neophodnost stvaranja Evropske akademije za obuku pripadnika graničnih policija, ustanove koja će objediniti sve napore ka harmonizaciji (približavanju) evropskih modela obuke pripadnika granične policije, i koja će animirati veliki broj ev- ropskih država da uzmu učešće u zajedničkom projektu - stvaranju sistema obuke granične policije za 21. vek.